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Anticipating the experience of a lifetime with Remote Year

Hi there! I’m Laurent (a.k.a. Larry), Front-end Developer at Dynamo. Recently, a friend of mine told me about Remote Year, a program that accepts 75 people to travel around the world for a whole year, changing cities each month while still being able to do their jobs remotely on a daily basis. Sounds awesome, doesn’t it ?

Often, when I see a site with a simple form for some kind of contest, I apply to it with the conviction that I’ll never hear about it again. I guess this time I was wrong! A few weeks later, here I am, announcing that I’m going to be out of the country for a year, trying to organize and take care of everything before I leave. As hard as it is to believe, this is clearly happening. I’m going to be travelling around Europe and South America for one year.

What is Remote Year ?

As they describe it: “Remote Year is a program for digital nomads to travel the world while working remotely”. This is not a program to replace your current job, or a way to find a new one. So it’s obviously not a vacation or simple tourism. It comes with a monthly fee, and an initial down-payment, so you’d better get to work in order to be able to enjoy the full adventure!

Remote Year deals with all the hassles of traveling and working at the same time, including travel logistics from one city to another, a private bedroom and a co-working space to stay connected at all times. After work hours and on the weekends, you’re free to do whatever you want in the city — you can explore and discover by yourself, or with the group. There are also community events organized by Remote Year in every location, either to discover the city, network with local people or learn about pretty much anything a remote digital worker would be interested in.

So, what’s next ?

The first leg of the trip begins in Eastern Europe, traveling West and back again.

Around January 1st , I’ll be boarding a plane to Split, Croatia. That’s the starting point of the adventure, where I’ll meet the other 74 participants that I’m going to be spending the year with. From there, we’ll travel throughout Europe and the Maghreb, to Prague, Lisbon and Rabat — two cities that I have fragmented memories of from when I was a kid, then on to Belgrade, ending in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The second half of the journey takes place in Southern and Central America, beginning in Buenos Aires, then continuing on to Córdoba, Lima, Medellín, Bogotá, and Mexico City (not on the map because apparently you can’t drive from Bogotá to Mexico City!).

I’m going to write about my journey along the way, summing up my experiences of what it’s like to work in these various environments, along with some insights on how the digital scene in these countries. I’m also obviously going to try my best to take gorgeous photos and post them to my Instagram. So keep an eye out, and feel free to send me suggestions of where to go and what to do along the way.